The Magic SOB forum is for posts of story sequences that are frequently vignette-based. Put those here while actual battle reports can go in Reports From the Field.You must talk like James T. Kirk in this forum at all times. Leonard Nimoy is fine too.

To the victors go the spoils. Arycelle's scouting party had meticulously routed Dragon Guard expeditionary forces in an earlier battle. The scouting mistress meets up with other heroes of the Mythic Order in order to delineate a strategy for acquiring the Sword of Aurora. After all, the bulk of the Dragon Guard army were still camped not far off.

Magister: "...and the strength of these new foes, are they much to be feared?"

Arycelle: "These dragon warriors are courageous, to be sure. Nevertheless, my skirmishers found their strength wanting. We massacred the lot and left none to bring word to their leaders."

Richter: "Most excellent, Arycelle. When we move to claim Aurora, we will have the element surprise.

Magister: "Not to mention how utterly demoralizing once they finally discern that their hero is no more."

Arycelle: "Demoralizing? Perhaps. It is just as likely he will become a martyr and fuel the fire in their hearts."

Richter: "Then we must simply crush their spirits at the end of our blades."

Magister: "Arycelle, the council holds your recent victory in high esteem; it is our request that you lead the rest of our forces against the Dragon Guard. You unquestionably possess the greatest experience against these adversaries. Though no magisters have come forward to stand at your side, we are generous enough to offer the indomitable aid of the murderbeasts..."

Arycelle: "Pfff. With all due respect, magister, I'll be sitting this one out.

Richter: "But Arycelle..."

Arycelle: "Hush Richter! I've done my job. You wanted intel, I got the intel. Measure their strength? Done. Even a stunning victory to boot. I'm pretty sure I've earned my R&R while you all need to pull your own weight."

Silenced by the impetuous bow mistress, the magister pauses to collect a convincing retort. While tongue-tied, Lyra, leader of the Mythic Order paladins sweeps in. Her armored boots clang with annoyance across the ruin flagstones.

Lyra: "You headstrong b*tch! R&R? I'm down two of my best trained paladins now because of the stunts of your "scouting mission," and one has been irreparably skeletonized! Even the Battle Priests can't do anything to regrow his sinews!"

Arycelle: "Clearly they were content enough to follow me; guess you should keep better tabs on your own!"

Lyra: "Outrageous! What, weren't your rangers enough that you have to cherry pick all of our warriors? Oh, you are such a competent warrior, Arycelle...hiding behind the shields of others taking pot-shots with that dinky bow of yours."

Arycelle: "Dinky? I'll show you..."

Lyra: "Oh, can it! It's not worth it to get Aurora anyway."

Magister: "What blasphemy is this?!?"

Lyra: "Come on Magister. You know the power it holds. The entire ruin complex teems with its magics. And how many warriors do you think it will take to overcome the Guardian? A squad? A Platoon? A whole legion?"

Valken, knight captain, interjects: "Lyra's right you know. We can't possibly know what sort of powers emanate from the sword. And who are we to think ourselves worthy enough to bear it? If one were not already a worthy owner, would the sword be here in the middle of an ancient ruin? Clearly the blade itself is too powerful to be borne. It must surely remain in its resting place. And who knows what calamity would befall this region without the influence of the relic on the ambient leylines and mana pools..."

"And what of the Dragon Guard? Are we willing to let so great a power as Wyvar become our sworn enemies? We've slain one of their champions, but that can only serve to fuel their vengeance. Their prowess is legendary, as you all know. Even if we can muster enough strength to wipe them from the face of this battlefield, the outcome would surely cripple us beyond repair. Neither would we possess Aurora with so small a force, nor could we withstand the rampaging opportunism of the Black Falcons who rove these hills..."

Valken's impassioned speech receives a few nods from those assembled. However, Ragnel strides forward with a massive sneer. He approaches Valken with an open hand, as if to greet him as a brother. As Valken reaches out, Ragnel shifts his weight slightly...

...and launches his compatriot into the nearby river.

Ragnel: "Spineless Valken! What more does the Mythic Order need to prove! If a scouting force can rout the Dragon Guard, then our army will surely stomp them into oblivion! Magister, I'll take charge. I want to see the blood of these dragon folk at the end of my blade!"

Magister: "Excellent, Ragnel. As always, the Council is pleased to put it's faith in you."

Ragnel: "And of course I will mount that murderbeast you have been breeding for me..."

Magister: "So what say the rest of you; Ragnel will need one more comrade to lead the forces of the Order into battle."

Lyra: "ENOUGH!!!" Lyra's face is a picturesque demonette. "Treating war as a game! You are not worthy to be called among the greatest of warriors! No sense, no tact, no wisdom, just brutish barbarism!"

[Unbeknowst to everyone in this exchange, Arycelle departs with a ranger detachment for the nearest sandy beach]

Lyra: "I have no need for anymore of this foolishness. I HAVE a magic sword. If you nincompoops wish to continue all of this d*ck-wagging over another magic bread-cutter, be my guest. But expect neither my cooperation, nor my sympathies when you lie dead and dismembered on the field of battle."

At this, Lyra flourishes her remarkable blade...

Executing a perfect windcutter technique.

And Lyra takes her leave.

...whilst her technique severs the magical connections of a nearby floating platform. Expendable casualties--not uncommon at war councils such as this--lie beneath the rubble.

I disagree- All of them are different heroes, with different ideologies that lived in vastly different time periods- meshed together, it would only make sense that they act just like any assembly of such people- a bunch of highschool kids. Not all of them are supposed to be like-able characters, and they do not necessarily get along. This is just the beginning of a much longer story however. Seeing one facet of a character is in many cases not sufficient to garner a full representation- every character here has a valid reason to act the way they do, and not all of them may even wish to be a part of the Mythic Order. For example, take Arycelle, in life she was an outlaw captain, and did what she pleased, and had enough skill to make certain that she never had to answer for her actions. As such, the valid personality type would be exactly what you see here- a disrespect for authority, a bit spoiled, a high opinion of herself and her own abilities, and an unwillingness to listen otherwise. She is, like all the other heroes here, a flawed individual, and it has already gotten her killed once. Now, looking at Lyra, as Grandmaster of the Templars, which are sort of like what the marines vs the navy, still part of the military, but a separate unit entirely from the main army, with their own special missions, jobs, etc. She has every right to be angry, she outranks everyone present save the Magister, and this mere captain has bothered to commandeer some of her troops to use for a scouting mission, of all things- and gotten several of them killed- Lyra takes the lives of her own subordinates, the templars, (though obviously not other peoples) very seriously. Valken is the voice of reason obviously, and Ragnel is just being the voice of Brikwars because why would you EVER talk yourself out of a battle? Regardless, the order themselves realizes there is a problem, and the council is working on a solution. You'll see more in upcoming events.

Semaj Nagirrac wrote:My hot wife and I were about to get a divorce until we saw your army. You have saved our marriage and won our allegiance.

Fair enough, you should decide your characters' personalities the way you want them to be, it's just that the tone and the content (the rather tragic history, mostly) of the Mythic Order set different expectations for me. They just no longer seem that scary or dangerous when I see them like this. Arycelle only lost my respect because she backed out of an opportunity for a fight, this is Brikwars goddamnit

I wanted a lighter tone for this particular battle, There is plenty of time for scary and dangerous down the road- even history's greatest villains weren't serious all the time. This was the first cutscene of sorts I've done (Although Rev wrote it, I set it up and took the pictures and sent him a vague outline of what was going on) so it's also a trial run of sorts. As for Arycelle, she left because she has a specific storyline to follow, that does not involve her being present at Thairm further than the first battle. She is skipping out on this fight to pursue something that is a bit more important to her personally (Also, I have quite a few heroes in the Mythic Order and wanted to use different ones to see how they played)...

Anyway, the real fun starts down the road (likely a month or two), I'm assembling several other factions to start off the Tales of Olm with a third and final (forum) battle at Thairm. The battle will verge on 280+ figures and contain 8-10 separate factions. I'm building a few separate cutscenes between now and then to build up to it, but I've been out of state for a bit, so progress has been slow.

Semaj Nagirrac wrote:My hot wife and I were about to get a divorce until we saw your army. You have saved our marriage and won our allegiance.